Largest offshore wind farm will create hundreds of jobs

The construction of the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the coast of Britain will create hundreds of jobs, although not all will be filled by British citizens, Personnel Today has learned.

The £2bn first phase of the London Array will build 175 giant turbines a few miles from the mouth of the Thames river, about 12 miles off the coast of Kent and Essex. The project was announced yesterday (12 May) by energy firm Eon, Denmark’s Dong Energy and an Abu Dhabi company, Masdar, with plans to add a further 166 turbines after the first phase is complete.

But an Eon spokesman told Personnel Today that the company couldn’t guarantee all the jobs would be British.

“We expect there will be 70 full-time permanent staff upon completion of the wind farm, and there will be hundreds of contractors working on the construction over the next few years, many of whom we hope will be locals,” he said.

“We will endeavour to use British workers wherever we can, but can’t guarantee that all employees will be from Great Britain.”

The wind farm is hoped to be ready in time to provide electricity for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The CBI’s director of business environment, Neil Bentley, said the project showed businesses were embracing a greener future, and were up for the challenge of delivering cleaner energy.

In the 2009 Budget, more than £1.4bn was earmarked to support low-carbon jobs, including the development of a low-carbon and green manufacturing sector.